Within the new venture, the company hopes to be able to reduce costs for installers and homeowners, and promises increased sales velocity for installers.
CommonBond, a fintech company that uses modularly designed financial services tools to provide customers with affordable, transparent and simple ways to repay their loans, announced that it has launched a new solar finance business.
Within the new venture, the company aims to reduce costs for installers and homeowners, and promises increased sales velocity for installers.
As to why solar and why now, CommonBond CEO and co-founder David Klein told pv magazine it’s the next natural evolution to serve its existing customer base.
In 2019, CommonBond conducted market research which showed that 77% of its customers have a home or intend to buy one within three years of refinancing their student loan with the company. This realization has led members of the company to explore the opportunities presented by homes and their contained elements, such as energy efficiency upgrades or HVAC systems. Around this time, the company also started building relationships with solar installers, which led to an interesting discovery.
“We’ve had relationships with solar installers,” Klein said. So we heard about a few sore spots. First: they wanted to make sure they were optimizing for their own economy. Second: they wanted to make sure that the financing function and the lending function that they integrate into their sales cycle are not only profitable, but timely, automated, simplified in a way that increases the speed of sales, increases the rate of approval, got approval faster, and made the experience easier for both the installing field sales agent and the homeowner they interact with. »
There are three ways installers can work with CommonBond to increase sales velocity and provide service to their customers:
- API-based POS integrations for a fully integrated sales and finance experience
- Web-based and app-based point-of-sale portals for installers to quickly and easily access CommonBond financing solutions
- Integrations with leading solar proposal generation tools
Having an existing customer base interested in solar power, knowing what solutions they could provide to common installer problems, seeing that solar system costs have dropped significantly since the start of the last decade, and recognizing increased climate awareness and energy among consumers all combined to make the switch to solar a no-brainer for a common bond.
And while most in the field of solar energy financial services focus on the value they can bring to the homeowner, Klein thinks CommonBond can make a name for itself with installers. The platform promises faster project approvals, higher approval rates and competitive pricing, all aspects that installers look for when choosing a financial services partner. However, there is one aspect that may be unique to CommonBond.
“There are a lot of installers that are so busy and growing and so focused on installs, we found that a lot of them don’t have a lot of data and reporting analytics on data and information that make visible what’s going on in the business,” Klein said. “We find that many installers, most in fact, have this need, which is currently not being met in general, and certainly by solar lenders .”
It’s a term Kelin calls growth, instrumentation, the service that feeds installers data in real time to arm them with information and visibility into their business. This information enables them to make better, faster decisions on everything from costing, budgeting, overall business and funnel management.
CommonBond originally launched its solar financing business in “stealth mode” in Q3 2021 and the company says it is close to doing so $1 billion solar origins in 2022.
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